True Crime

Employees at an Indiana Hardee’s took photos of drive-thru customers debit and credit cards and then used them to deposit money into the accounts of inmates.

The jury found Mandy Benn, 43, guilty of second degree murder and operating a vehicle while under the influence

I went to see this talk yesterday, and while I have seen Emma Kenny in many documentaries over the years, I have never attended a true crime talk. I can safely say, it did not disappoint.

It was clear and consice and not fluffy like you find with many documentaries these days (talking to you Netflix)

It covered the psychology of a serial killer and covered several from across the USA and UK. No surprise to myself that I had heard of all of them... all except one that was... the name echoed out... "David Parker Ray" (AKA The Toybox Killer) and, man, is this guy something else. Rarely am I shocked by true crime, but everything about him was next level chilling. Especially when his "introduction" recordings were played.

These things are not for the faint of heart, and it was great to see a room full of enthusiasts. A great evening all round.

Criminal gangs behind a rise in bombings and shootings in Sweden in recent years are using fake Spotify streams to launder money, a Swedish newspaper reported earlier this month.

Criminal networks have for several years been using money from drug deals, robberies, fraud and contract killings to pay for false Spotify streams of songs published by artists with ties to the gangs, an investigative report in Svenska Dagbladet claimed. They then get paid by the platform for the high number of streams, thereby laundering the money. The newspaper said its information had been confirmed by four gang members from separate criminal networks in Stockholm, as well as an anonymous police investigator.

Abstract credit: https://slashdot.org/story/419014

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/2589536

After a woman escaped from a makeshift “dungeon” made of cinder blocks in a man’s Oregon home, the FBI says it is looking for additional victims in other states.

The man, 29-year-old Negasi Zuberi, was taken into federal custody on suspicion of kidnapping across state lines after a woman from Seattle escaped from his home in Klamath Falls, Oregon, according to a news release from the FBI Portland Field Office. The woman also said she was sexually assaulted, the FBI said.

Zuberi, who has lived in at least 10 states since 2016, has been linked to violent assaults in at least four states, according to the FBI. Investigators have reason to believe there could be several other victims, the agency said. Zuberi was indicted by a federal grand jury in Oregon on one count of kidnapping and one count of transportation with intent to engage in sexual activity, court documents filed Wednesday show.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1199732

California’s governor announced Friday that he won’t ask the state Supreme Court to block parole for Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten, paving the way for her release after serving 53 years in prison for two infamous murders.

nbclosangeles

In a brief statement, the governor’s office said an appeal was unlikely to succeed.

Newsom is disappointed, the statement said.

“More than 50 years after the Manson cult committed these brutal killings, the victims’ families still feel the impact,” the statement said.

Van Houten, now in her 70s, is serving a life sentence for helping Manson and other followers in the 1969 killings of Leno LaBianca, a grocer in Los Angeles, and his wife, Rosemary.

Van Houten could be freed in about two weeks after the parole board reviews her record and processes paperwork for her release from the California Institution for Women in Corona, her attorney Nancy Tetreault said.

She was recommended for parole five times since 2016 but Newsom and former Gov. Jerry Brown rejected all those recommendations.

However, a state appeals court ruled in May that Van Houten should be released, noting what it called her “extraordinary rehabilitative efforts, insight, remorse, realistic parole plans, support from family and friends” and favorable behavior reports while in prison.

“She’s thrilled and she’s overwhelmed,” Tetreault said.

“She’s just grateful that people are recognizing that she’s not the same person that she was when she committed the murders,” she said.

After she's released, Van Houten will spend about a year in a halfway house, learning basic life skills such as how to go to the grocery and get a debit card, Tetreault said.

“She’s been in prison for 53 years. ... She just needs to learn how to use an ATM machine, let alone a cell phone, let alone a computer,” her attorney said. The Manson Family

Van Houten and other Manson followers killed the LaBiancas in their home in August 1969, smearing their blood on the walls after. Van Houten later described holding Rosemary LaBianca down with a pillowcase over her head as others stabbed her, before herself stabbing the woman more than a dozen times.

“My family and I are heartbroken because we’re once again reminded of all the years that we have not had my father and my stepmother with us,” Cory LaBianca, Leno LaBianca's daughter, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday.

“My children and my grandchildren never got an opportunity to get to know either of them, which has been a huge void for my family,” said Cory La Bianca, who is 75.

The LaBianca murders happened the day after Manson followers killed actress Sharon Tate and four others. Van Houten did not participate in the Tate killings.

Mitchelle Blair, on the word of her youngest child, tortured her two other children for over a week until they died. The youngest child accused their siblings of SA, which is why Mitchelle Blair took in on herself to torture them in all sorts of horrific ways.

One of the most memorable parts of the case was in how much detail she gave the court. She went into how she tortured them, what she did, how the kids reacted. It's some real horrific stuff.

You can see the full confession here but be warned that it's highly graphic.

There's a lot of push back here, because the evidence shows that Mitchelle Blair may have been the actual sexual abuser here. At the very least, even if she didn't do the SA of her kids, she for sure got confessions out of her two kids via torture. As everyone knows, confessions received via torture are about as reliable as the polygraph test.

A Wicked World just did a fantastic video on the case. They're a real hidden gem who does the case justice.

On March 22, 2023, Jody Bert, 44, disappeared off the face of the earth. Bert and his family were driving back to Florida from Oklahoma and stopped in Baton Rouge for the night. At 12:45am the night he disappeared, he dropped his family members off at a nearby hotel and went to park the car. When he didn't come back, his family went looking for him. His vehicle and his personal belongings, including his wallet and phone, were found in a parking garage but there was no clue to what happened to Bert himself.

The police haven't said a word, aside from declaring the day after he went missing that they didn't believe there was any malicious intent behind his disappearance. Someone continues to post fresh missing flyers around the downtown area, which is where he vanished from. There is a reward offered for information.

Here is a news article from the immediate aftermath.

Personally what I find so strange about this is the timing. It was the middle of the night, he was only supposed to be gone for a minute, and he left everything behind. If he had a medical emergency, they would have found him. In a thread on r/BatonRouge, someone said a journalist told them they believed he had committed suicide by jumping in the Mississippi River, which would've been in walking distance, but that just makes no sense to me.

This also happened exactly a month after another man from out of town, Nathan Millard, disappeared from the same area. Nathan Millard was in town on a business trip on February 22. He was last seen exceedingly drunk in the downtown area late that night. A week later, his body was found behind a funeral home, wrapped in a rug. Police say they believe he overdosed while in the company of a known drug dealer and two other locals, and the three dumped his body rather than call for help. They have been apprehended.

Given that Bert was expected back to the hotel where his family was checking in within minutes after they last saw him, it doesn't seem credible that something like what happened to Millard happened here.

So what DID happen?

If you're into true crime, you'll like the Scamanda podcast that's currently being released weekly. It's about a lady who faked cancer for years to steal money and garner attention. Very entertaining.

Welcome to Lemmy's True Crime community! This is a place to discuss ongoing cases, as well as solved and unsolved cases.

I am new to Lemmy myself, as I think most people are at this point, but I'm excited to see it grow. I'll spend some time on the sidebar soon.

Please be respectful toward victims and their families within this community.